"There are unsmiling faces in fetters and chains on a wheel in perpetual motion.
Who belong to all races and answer all names with no show of an outward emotion.
And they think it will make their lives easier, but the doorway before them is barred.
And the game never ends when your whole world depends on the turn of a friendly card." Alan Parsons

6/30/13

“It
is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties...
Who does not see that the same authority which can establish
Christianity, in exclusion of all other religions, may establish with
the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all
other sects.”

JAMES
MADISON (1784)

“Paul
was the great Coryphaeus, and the first corrupter of the doctrines of
Jesus. “

THOMAS
JEFFERSON (1820)

“Shake
off all the fears of servile prejudices, under which weak minds are
servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call on her
tribunal for every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even
the existence of a God, because, if there be one, he must more
approve of the homage of reason than that of blind faith.”

THOMAS
JEFFERSON (1785)

“As
to Jesus of Nazareth, my opinion of whom you particularly desire, I
think the system of morals and HIS religion, as HE left them to us,
the best the world ever saw or is likely to see; but I apprehend it
has received various corrupting changes, and I have, with most of the
present dissenters in England, some doubts of his divinity.”

BENJAMIN
FRANKLIN (1790)

And
so we begin...

Moses was not a Christian. The
point to having Moses and others (some who are pagans) adorning the
Supreme Court building is to emphasize that we are a nation of laws.
I would argue about the increasing banality of this concept except
that I am discoursing on religion and the banality of it at this
time.

Religion serves no purpose other
than to control people by replacing truth and reason with authority
and faith. I have no idea or conception of what god is, but I do know
what god isn’t. Truth does not come from the pulpit, the
government, nor the TV. It must be sought with reason as your guide
and an open mind. Only you have the power to determine value.
Only
you have the power to see through the distractions, projections and
lies that authority uses to confuse and divide us. Truth is freedom.

It is not my contention here to
declare the death of god. I am not in contact with the ethereal
world. So, any conjecture on my part would be ludicrous (much as any
priest or preacher). What I will try to portray is the feelings of
inadequacy, humiliation and impotence that I observe originating from
the religious fundamentalists in the three monotheistic religions.
Each of which has traditionally incited anger and racism towards each other. To argue logically with religion is tantamount to a lesson in
futility (first, they will ignore you, next they will ridicule you,
finally they will persecute you.) Religions have stacked the deck
against all arguments (death is the only solution.) The true crux of
fundamentalist belief amounts to an ambivalency with modernity and
its legacy to surpass even the wildest of imaginations. If the
"second coming" happened today god would be amazed (shock
and awe come to mind) at his following. Hatred and ignorance are the
creeds of the "believers." Love and knowledge have been
usurped.

Let’s
begin with the inadequacies posed by the Religionists and by extension any strict moralists 1.) They abhor the god "mammon" yet horde more money and
consume more resources than a common person (why?) 2.) Their moral
standing is that they alone can teach morality, yet they commit more
immoral acts (war and its glorification) than of any one group of people. 3.) They have an innate fear that they are wrong
(which they are) and will do "anything" to prevent that
fear from being exposed.

Faith is the only armor they have. From
these three premises we can assume that their inadequacies are
founded in their basic nature (hatred of anything different.) It is my belief that they horde money and resources to "hedge their bet" in case
they are wrong and to insure their continued dominance and control
(money is power.) Second, they are not truly
immoral people, but honestly believe they have a divine right to
inflict their version of the "wrath of god" on anyone who
believes different than them (those
people are the reasons for our
failure.) Finally, they are powerless against the EVOLUTION of a
humankind they did not get to vote on or reduce to a slave-like
existence. Faith is not knowledge, it is glorified ignorance.

This brings us to their
humiliation. History is not the grandest of teachers (because of most
humans disdain and disregard with, for and of it) yet, we/they are forced
to acknowledge that the names of their gods have brought more death
and destruction than any mere caveman could possibly dream. I was
educated by nuns in a Catholic school. From them I learned about the
persecution of Christians in ancient Rome. I didn’t
place the connection then to the fact that the Romans were basically
secularists (who supported a religion based upon myth) and Christianity was a threat to their government until
it was finally usurped by the emperor and the oligarchy.

As their empire waned they needed
to placate the masses with “bread and circuses.” Christians were
a growing minority at this time and in an effort to eradicate them
the Roman authorities would execute them in the Coliseum and other
arenas (thereby creating martyrs which fueled the rise of this
troublesome sect.) The crumbling Western Empire was based upon the
powers of an over extended military and guided by a corrupt oligarchy
(sound familiar). Christianity provided the framework with which they
could maintain their hold on power (if you can’t beat them, lead
them.) The Catholic church emerged from the ashes of the Roman
Empire.

Our modern day oligarchs have
surpassed the Romans in terms of relative power, yet at its heart the
American empire’s reliance upon perpetual war and the corruption
that abounds within the government will surely speed its demise at some point in time. Our masters use of religion as a tool to placate the masses will wain
first as people see the contradiction inherent within this ideology (hate
requires an enormous amount of energy.) The zealots in this group
have no humility and our therefore not subject to historical
criticism (in their eyes.) No one can hide from history for too long.
Fear of god is not enough to placate the hordes (in the long run) and
the slow decay of our educational system will allow the religions to
survive (for awhile), but not as a sustainable power and definitely
not as a social force.

Lastly, we arrive at the ultimate
reason for my essay; power. It is remarkable and downright scary how
religion has amassed the power it has in spite of science and The
Enlightenment. Yet, it will be the downfall of them and their gods in
the long run. The gods of Ur, Egypt and the other parts of the world have long abandoned us and their legacy will be undone at some
point in history. Corporate interests will see to that. Whether these
"corporate" interests are aligned with the religious zealots or not
it does not matter (economic trivialities). Truth will win out. The
corporation is the root of most of our evils. This personless entity
cannot help itself. It is what it has been legalized to do. Pity
should be reserved for those who sanctify and glorify its existence.

The Religionists have made a
bedfellow of this entity. Mind you, I am very afraid of the climate
instilled by this very small minority of people (and, of course,
global corporate interests) but, if history is an indication of OUR
will, than the people of this planet will prevail. We may, and
probably will, suffer through a modern "Dark Age," but in
the end we have to rid our world of these artificial objects
(religionists and corporations) They are the obstacles to our
growth. We must put an emphasis on our need for a curious, natural
humanity that sees the world through the eyes of truth. We will have
a modern "Renaissance" and be all the more wiser as a
people.

Let the "CLEANSING" begin.

We are not as much a misguided folk
as we are a mislead folk. Truth, beauty and goodness will win over
dogma, commitment will win over blind following, reason will win over
ignorance, love over hate and goodness of heart will win over greed.
This is our human legacy, this is Beauty. This, I believe, is what
most people truly want.

6/28/13

126 degrees and I just can't get enough. Summer has crept upon us like a two ton sledge hammer. No more gradual rates of heat plumes, this is the 21st century version of "it wasn't me" and "I didn't know the gun was loaded." I feel as if I am living in a wonderama dream/nightmare machine of pre-WWI army mobilization; only on a permanent scale.

We can't help ourselves. The drive to do right has been replaced with an inescapable bureaucratic haze of indifference, backbiting and finger-pointing. Small social victories are a step in the right direction, but the behemoths are not to be coddled easy. We are in this for keeps. To believe that any one country on the planet can assume the role of "steward of the Earth" is madness. To further believe that the U.S. is that country borders on the criminally insane. Hell, we can't even trust our own citizens.

I just moved out of the most hellish place (sociologically) to the most hellish place (climate-wise). I am happier because of this (and I just got my internet up after two months without it.) I am no longer a statistic on a chart (although realistically who isn't) drudging through some fairy tale version of success for some egocentric boss who believes in this shit we call "the real world." I am back to my calling hoping that in my narrow view of this world that I can do right and maybe soften the dread that is to come.

6/8/13

"Good is all that serves life, evil is all that serves death. Good is reverence for life... and all that enhances life. Evil is all that stifles life, narrows it down, cuts it to pieces." (Erich Fromm 1964)